Door operator



R. J. LYONS DOOR OPERATOR April 24, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 18,1952 BY f ATTORNEYS April 24, 1956 R. .1. LYONS 2,742,662

DOOR OPERATOR Filed Oct. 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYJ UnitedStates Patent DOOR OPERATOR Robert J. Lyons, Hamtlen, .Conn.

Application October 18, 1952, Serial No. 315,491

2 Claims. c1. 16-1) This invention relates to a door operator, and moreparticuarly to a spring mechanism for hinged, cellar or trap doors toenable such doors to be opened with less exertion than is normally thecase.

In cellar or trap door constructions such as bulkhead doors, forexample, it is usual to provide a pair of .doors hinged at their outeredges, the doors being swung upwardly about their hinges to openposition against the force of gravity and remaining closed under theforce of gravity. As these doors are sometimes made of metal, they areof considerable weight, and in such case it requires a considerableexertion to swing them to open position. This is particularly trueduring the first part of the opening movement of the door where theeffective weight of the door acts at a point farthest from the hinge ina horizontal direction so that the weight acts through the greatestleverage.

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide spring mechanismto counterbalance the weight of the door to a considerable extent andassist in the opening thereof, the spring mechanism being so arrangedthat it will exert its greatest force at the beginning of the openingmovement.

The mechanism is, however, so constructed that the weight of the doorwill maintain it in closed position as is desirable but the spring willassist in raising or opening it. to such an extent that very much lessexertion will be required for this purpose.

One object of the present invention is to provide a device for assistingthe opening of a trap or cellar door, which device is of economicalconstruction and which may be readily applied to the door.

A further object of the invention is to provide a door check and openingmechanism which will not only assist in the opening of the door but willalso serve to check the closing movement thereof so that the operatorwill be required to exert less effort in either opening it or closing itand so that there will be less danger of the door slamming to its closedposition.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a springdoor check of the class described which will assist in holding the doorin open position once it has been moved to this position.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bulkhead door in open position towhich my invention has been applied;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the door in closed position;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of my improved door check shown inthe position occupied when the door is open; and

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the bracket used to secure thecheck in place.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention 2,742,662 t n d Ap24, 11 5 I have shown in the drawings a "bulkhead constructioncomprising a frame consisting of triangular vertically disposed sidemembers 10, a header 11 extending between such side members, and n l needge r i s 12.- "Doors 3 and are hinged one n cash at th dge ra ls byhinges 14 such that each .of the dpors may swing from the closedPosition upi by the door to' he pen position occupied by door 13 in Fig.1.

As it requires considerable effort to Iai the 5199;? from their closedpo tion, Iiha P ov d d means to in this operation. For this purpose 1have provided the door Check or p r to s wn i the drawi gs, which devicecomprises a spring sec r d to ach of th le ge, .-s 12, the Spring havinga bi ht port on to engage the'u ster surface of the door. V y a Thedevice is secured in place by means 9i Unhapes bracket 5, shown n Fig 5,the ba s of which s secured to the under side of th ed ra l 12 by any"suit ble means su h as b lt 16 passing th ou h op nings .1 in thebracket and registering Openings Y in the edge rail. h g o s a g s ofthe breaks; a pm idsd wi penings 8 which c v a springr n time nod 1,111.: rod being held in place by ho ter Pins at each end thereofi Itmay a so be L 9l that; shown in Figs .2 and the side an es t the rackear exten ed-rearwardly and provided with end portions 30 abuttingagainst the side members 10, thus bracing the structure and holding thebracket against movement or play.

The spring which performs the useful work of the check comprises amember bent into U-shaped form, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the bightportion 21 of the spring bears against the under side of the door. Asleeve or tubular roller 22 may be loosely mounted on this portion ofthe spring to engage the door and reduce friction between the latter andthe spring. 7

The leg portions 23 of the body of the spring extend downwardly and areturned inwardly, as shown at 24, and then each end is wound into a coil25 which loosely receives the rod 19 so as to hold the spring in place.

The extreme end 26 of each of the two coils 25 is turned outwardly, asshown more especially in Figs. 2 and 3, and engages below a second rod27 carried by the leg members of the bracket 15. For this purpose thesebracket members are provided with a plurality of openings 28 so that therod 27 may be positioned in any registering pair thereof in order toadjust the position of this rod with respect to the rod'19 and thespring.

The spring is tensioned to occupy the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 2 when the rod 27 is in the lowermost of the openings 28 and whenno load is placed upon the spring. When the door is in open position, asshown in this figure and the spring bears against the under sidethereof, it will be under slight tension and will tend to maintain thedoor in this position. Any form of stop may be provided to limit theopening of the door or, as shown, its rear edge 29 may rest against theupper surface of the edge rail 12 and the opening movement limited bythis contact.

It will be apparent also that when the door is closed and the springoccupies the position shown in Fig. 3, there will be a greater tensionupon the spring due to the fact that the movement of the bight portion21 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3will tend to wind the coils of the spring as the ends 26 are heldagainst movement by the rod 27. Thus as the door is moved from open toclosed position the spring will exert a gradually increasing raisingforce upon the door, and thus will serve as a door check to ease theclosing movement and will exert its greatest eifort at the time ofhaving to resist the greatest weight. It is understood, however, that itwill permit the door to fully close.

It will be seen that as the door is raised from the position shown inFig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 2, the spring will assist in the raisingmovement and will exert its greatest force at the beginning of theoperation and a gradually decreasing force as the door moves to theposition shown in Fig. 2. As doors are of different sizes and,therefore, of difierent weight, it is desirable to provide means foradjusting the tension of the spring. This is effected by moving the bar27 from one of a pair of openings 28 to another pair. It will be seenthat when the bar 27 is in the lowermost of the openings 28, asshown inthe drawings, the spring will be under the greatest tension. When thespring is mounted upon a door of lesser weight, the bar will be movedinto one of an upper pair of openings, and thus the spring will be underless tension.

It will be apparent that the door check or operator illustrated is ofvery simple construction and may be applied to the door with a minimumamount of work. The spring is supported'entirely by having its coilsloosely hung upon the rod 19 and by having its two ends engaged belowthe adjusting rod 27. Moreover, the spring is of one-piece construction,being made of a single rod or wire, the body of which is bent intoU-shaped form, as shown, and the ends of which are formed into coils toprovide the spring action.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a counter-balancing means for a door hinged to a frame to swingupwardly, a spring comprising a wire bent into U-shaped form with theend of each of the leg portions formed into a coil, means for securingsaid spring to the frame with the bight portion of the spring extendingtoward and acting against the under surface of the door to urge thelatter toward open position, said means comprising a bracket adapted tobe secured to the under side of the frame having depending side flanges,a pair of spaceapart rods extending between said flanges, one of whichis loosely received in said coils to support the spring between theflanges, and the ends of the spring being engaged with said second rodto prevent movement of said ends.

2. A door construction as in claim 1 wherein said side flanges are eachprovided with a plurality of openings arranged in pairs, and said secondrod is adapted to be supported in any one of said pairs of openings toadjust the tension of the spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS270,828 Jarvis May 3, 188i 441,547 Gilbert Nov. 25, 1890 653,018 ClurnJuly 3, 1900 941,689 Potts Nov. 30, 1909 2,349,711 Faithful May 23, 1944

